Guardian writers' prediction: 19th (NB: this is not necessarily Stuart's prediction, but the average of our writers' tips)

Last season's position: 2nd in the Championship

Odds to win the league: 3,500-1

Let's get straight to the heart of the issue. West Bromwich Albion have been relegated from the Premier League three times in the past eight seasons and the transfer activity at The Hawthorns this summer suggests another major struggle ahead. The bookmakers have Albion odds on to go straight back to the Championship along with Blackpool, although don't expect Jeremy Peace to lose any sleep over the prospect of that happening.

After pointing out that Albion have taken five points out of a possible 96 from their Premier League matches against Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, the chairman recently said: "The key for me is that we don't fear relegation. We know we can handle it. We know we can get back. It may sound strange but that's our great strength. We're going to go up there, have a good go at it, enjoy ourselves – I hope – knowing we have nothing to fear. That's worth something I believe."

The supporters must wonder how much better things would be if the club approached the Premier League, rather than the prospect of relegation, with nothing to fear, yet for that to happen there would need to be the sort of investment in the playing squad that Peace is unwilling to make at a time when the club is carrying £10m worth of debt. "We have to get back in kilter," Peace, who is renowned for watching every penny, said this summer.

Five players have arrived – Nicky Shorey, Pablo Ibàñez, Steven Reid, Boaz Myhill and Gabriel Tamas – although Roberto Di Matteo, the Albion manager, has made it clear that he would like another three, including a couple more attacking options. A striker remains the priority and it easy to see why. Albion's top scorers in the Championship last season were two midfielders, Graham Dorrans and Chris Brunt, who finished with 13 league goals apiece.

What Albion would do for someone like Kevin Doyle. Wolverhampton Wanderers stretched themselves when they paid £6.5m for Doyle last year but they were rewarded with nine league goals and countless selfless performances from a player who did as much as anyone to help them survive. Instead Albion are looking at Liverpool's David Ngog and Jason Roberts at Blackburn Rovers, neither of whom feel like they are going to be the difference between the team staying up or not.

At least Albion look like being a little more streetwise under Di Matteo than they were during their last season in the Premier League, when Tony Mowbray's expansive but naive tactics invited opponents to cut through them. Di Matteo might well set Albion up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in which the highly promising Dorrans will look to break from an advanced midfield role along with two from Jerome Thomas, Giles Barnes, James Morrison and Brunt, all of whom have played in the Premier League.

There is also no shortage of experience in defence, with Scott Carson in goal, Reid and Shorey likely to occupy the full-back berths and Tamas or Jonas Olsson set to compete with Ibàñez, a former Spanish international, for the centre-half positions. Di Matteo hopes to sign another holding midfielder, although most Albion fans will have breathed a sigh of relief when the club pulled out of a deal for Eric Djemba-Djemba, whose four years in English football with Manchester United, Aston Villa and Burnley were eminently forgettable.

With the exception of the Great Escape Bryan Robson masterminded in 2005, Albion's four years in the Premier League have not brought too many happy memories either, which is a shame because the club has a rich tradition of playing football the right way and The Hawthorns is a wonderful venue. There is no reason why a club that has won four promotions to the Premier League in such a short space of time should not be able to come up with a strategy to stay there by now.

Whether Di Matteo, who will be managing in the top flight for the first time, has a plan up his sleeve remains to be seen, but the best thing the former Chelsea midfielder can do is to get Peace's statistics about Albion's record against what used to be called the "big four" out of his head when he looks through the opening fixtures. Albion's first four away games see them go to Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United. All the best, as they say.